Let's keep it goin'- Raptors/Wolves GDT

[FNG]

Doogie reports overhearing Micah saying this to Finchie after practice yesterday: "We need to beat Toronto tomorrow, and I have the key to winning that game. No, it's not better transition defense. And it's not even making sure Ant gets to bed before midnight...um, alone. I've been poring over some advanced stats, and I've noticed that we are 4-1 in games in which FNG kicks off the GDT, and only 4-5 in all other games. I'm going to try to get ahold of this guy."

Well, he did...so here we go. Toronto is not good. I mean, can any team on which RJ Barrett is arguably your best healthy player be good? They are currently 3-12 after breaking a 7-game losing streak with a win over the Pacers in their last game. But a closer look at the losing streak tells us Toronto is much better than a typical 3-12 team, despite missing 2 starters. 6 of those 7 losses were on the road, where they are 0-8...and 2 of those were very close losses to Denver and Boston. In contrast, they are 3-4 at home. We know that our Wolves tend to show up flat against teams they think are much worse than them, and they might be looking ahead to Boston. So this one scares me. A decisive win tonight against an inferior team would go a long way to showing us this team has regained some of the hunger it showed last year. But until we see it, color me skeptical. I predict another lackluster effort and a close win.

[Wolvesfan21]

I actually feel more confident about beating the C's versus beating the Raps. Just because we half ass it against "bad" teams. These are still NBA players and everyone can play to some extent or simply get a hot shooting night. You can't just half ass your way to victory. Hustle, just simply playing hard is half the battle. Talent loses to hustle and toughness all the time! Got to show up for every game. It is an annoying trait that is tough to root for (the Wiggins type).

Lets see if this team starts to enjoy winning more then they dislike losing.

[60WinTim]

Negative Nancys...

The Wolves are returning from 3 days off to work on their deficiencies thus far, especially on defense. I expect a pretty dominant performance tonight, setting up a litmus test against the Celtics.